City Manager Talks Budget, Casino and Why Rohnert Park Can't Afford to Reopen the M Pool

Last week, Patch sat down with Rohnert Park City Manager Gabe Gonzalez to discuss the casino, the budget deficit and address some of the questions readers posted on our Facebook page prior to the meeting. Check out the highlights from the interview:

Patch: Why won’t the city reopen the M pool? It seems like such a small price to pay to give families somewhere to escape the summer heat.

Gabe Gonzalez: The $22,000 estimate given to council for reopening the M pool, closed in 2010, is low. The city is facing a $2.3 million budget deficit, with increased costs for employee health, pension obligations and fuel. Our (city) workforce is aging, which is increasing our costs…Over the past five years, our insurance premiums have increased by around 10-12 percent a year.

I have a rubber band theory. You take a rubber band and stretch it, but if you keep doing that, eventually it’s going to snap. And that’s where we’re at right now. We have done everything possible, short of additional layoffs, short of eliminating more parks, pools, to live within our means. So if we want to open a pool, it means we have to take it from personnel or look at other programs being cut.

Patch: There are a lot of vacancies around town, yet incoming businesses like Chipotle and Walgreens are building new structures. Why can’t they just move into the existing retail space?

Gonzalez: We as a city can’t force businesses to set up in a certain spot. Very often a company has its own floor plans, such as Chipotle, which has a drive through. We can’t dictate where they set up or deny someone a permit so long as it’s allowable pursuant to our (zoning) ordinances.

Patch: Are you concerned that the Walmart superstore will make it highly unlikely that a grocery store will now want to come to town, like to the former Pacific Market location?

Gonzalez: I’m not for Walmart one way or another, but in a free market economy any type of enterprise comes down to consumer choice. If a consumer goes and buys groceries at Walmart, maybe they do it for economic reasons or because it’s convenient. If someone shops at Oliver’s, that’s their choice. But there is a pool of consumers for every type of store there is…The economy dictates that there is a consumer for each product.

Patch: Are you concerned about the casino’s impacts? Will $241 million over two decades be enough?

Gonzalez: This is why we negotiated for a new Memorandum of Understanding with the tribe. The casino will be much closer to the city and there will now be more impacts. (These include more than 1,000 daily car trips, according to the project’s environmental impact report.)

There will be some initial impacts of the casino, but it’s not until year three, five or seven that we’ll really start seeing the full impacts. The key for us to keep that money for mitigation and not use it to close our deficit, give employees raises or increase amenities. The smart thing to do is to put the money aside and as long as I continue to serve at the council’s will, that’s what my recommendation will be.

Patch: What is the city doing to attract new business to town?

Gonzalez: We’ve done everything, from a budgetary stance, we can to reduce costs, so one of the ways we’re trying to close that structural deficit it to bring in new revenue and the casino can help with that. We already have some new businesses that will benefit from casino’s opening—Oxford Suites, Amy’s Kitchen—and we’re preparing for more. Whether you like it or not, the casino is going to bring in a lot of associated business catering to casino employees and customers, something Rohnert Park can benefit from. 

We’re also working on the Northwest specific plan, the area around the casino, assessing and evaluating appropriate uses to the area around the site. We have an Economic Development Prosperity Plan and are actively looking for ways to attract companies to Rohnert Park. Another area we're looking to develop is around State Farm Drive and the SMART station site, which offers a lot of opportunities.